Wyoming cities scramble for power after transformer fails

WHEATLAND, Wyo. (AP) -- A failed transformer at the Laramie River Station has forced electric suppliers who own the plant to search for new sources of power.

One of three 700-megawatt transformers at the station failed Saturday, reducing the amount of power flowing to the western United States.

"There are other resources on the grid and at this point that's handling any usage (needs) that we have," said Floyd Robb, spokesman for Basin Electric Power Cooperative, of Bismarck, N.D., which operates the station and is 42-percent owner. "Depending on each owners' particular situation for power supply is what determines where they have to go for replacement power."

The city of Powell, one of eight municipalities that comprise the Wyoming Municipal Power Agency, another owner, is asking residents to conserve power while officials look elsewhere for electricity.

"The agency will go out on the spot market and buy power. There will be no interruption in service," Powell Public Services Manager Zane Logan said. "But it will be expensive. It's going to cost big bucks."

The other cities in the agency are Cody, Fort Laramie, Guernsey, Lingle, Lusk, Pine Bluffs and Wheatland. Each is also being asked to conserve power.

Robb said he had no idea what caused the failure.

"I'm not sure that we know," he said. "I don't think it's ever occurred with any of our units."

Basin Electric also operates two-unit plants in Beulah and Stanton, N.D., and a two-unit facility in Vermillion, S.D.

The Laramie River Station is a three-unit coal-fired plant, six miles east of Wheatland. It cost $1.6 billion to construct and began operating in 1980.

The station, which has a capacity of 1,650 megawatts, provides power to more than 100 rural electric cooperatives and nearly 80 municipal electric systems serving more than 2 million people in Colorado, the Dakotas, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska and Wyoming.

The station is owned by the Missouri Basin Power Project. Basin Electric's 42-percent is the largest share of the project. Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association of Denver, Colo., owns 24 percent.

Other owners include Western Minnesota Municipal Power Agency, of Ortonville, Minn., 16 percent; Lincoln (Neb.) Electric System, 13 percent; Heartland Consumers Power District, of Madison, S.D., 3 percent; and Wyoming Municipal Power Agency, based in Lusk, 1 percent.

About 350 employees work at the Laramie River Station, which uses 7 million tons of coal a year from the Powder River Basin in northeastern Wyoming.

Robb said he is not certain when a replacement transformer will be brought online.

"Obviously we're working as quickly as we can to replace it," he said. "It's 700 tons. It's not something you just pick up and move around quickly."

http://www.trib.com/HOMENEWS/WYO/BasinElectric22.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), December 23, 2000

Answers

My gosh, what or should I say, "who's next"?? It is just unbelievable that so many states are having power problems.. What do you think is going on martin?

-- teresa (me@nothome.com), December 23, 2000.

Bills for December outage come in POWELL, Wyo. (AP) - A power outage caused by a transformer failure at the Laramie River Station Power Plant in December could cost $3 million or more. The transformer is expected to cost $2.5 million to fix, plus $500,000 to ship it from Wheatland to Florida and back.

"And that's if it can be done," Powell City Administrator Jim Wysocki said. "If it can't be repaired, the cost of a new transformer is $3.5 million to have a spare transformer on site."

Meanwhile, the Wyoming Municipal Power Association had to buy electricity during the outage for its eight member cities and towns.

The usual cost is $30 per megawatt, but the spot market rate was 10 times higher. A $310,000 bill was racked up until a backup transformer was installed.

The costs are not expected to be passed on to agency customers. The agency withheld payment of members' year-end rebates and will use the reserves to pay its share of the bill.

The agency owns 1.37 percent of the plant's production.

http://www.trib.com/HOMENEWS/WYO/OutageCosts.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), February 21, 2001.